The present invention generally relates to eyeglass devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to the mounting of auxiliary eyeglasses or other eyewear, such as sunglass lenses, on primary eyeglasses.
People often wear eyeglasses to correct their vision, be it near-sighted or far-sighted. The eyeglasses have a main frame with lenses fitted thereto. Protective-lens eyeglasses are also available of generally the same construction.
There are instances, such as when in the sun, when an auxiliary eyewear, such as sunglasses, is desirable. There exist clip-on sun shades which are clipped to the rim or frame of the primary eyeglasses. However, most such sun shades are typically not able to be pivoted upwardly and out of view, such as when entering a building or the like from outdoors. Instead, the sun shades must be completely removed and stored in a pocket or the like of the eyeglass wearer.
Advancements in the field have led to the use of magnetic members which are used to removably attach the sun shade or auxiliary lenses to the eyeglasses. However, the magnetic connections are typically not pivotally arranged so as to enable the user to “flip-up” the sun shades away from the eyeglass lenses.
Yet other prior art auxiliary eyewear require specially manufactured eyeglasses for a stable connection. Alternatively, the auxiliary eye shades must be semi-permanently attached to the eyeglasses, such as using screws or the like. Of course, this does not enable the eyeglass wearer to conveniently remove the sun shades or auxiliary lenses.
In addition to the shortcomings described above, prior art auxiliary eyeware in general has the shortcoming that they are not adapted to be connected to any piece of eyeware. That is, the prior art auxiliary eyeware does not have universal connection means. Instead, they rely upon clips or attachments to the eyeglass to the primary eyeglasses which are usually very specific in nature. If not completely specific, the auxiliary eyeware still suffers a drawback of connecting to the primary eyeware in such a manner so as to limit it to only several styles of eyeware. This is due to the differences between the “nose bridge” portion of the frames and the size of the frames of the primary eyeware which varies dramatically between different styles.
Accordingly, there is a continuing need for auxiliary lenses or eye shades which can be easily detached and connected to a pair of pre-existing eyeglasses. Such auxiliary eyeware should be capable of being detatchably connected to virtually any primary eyeware so as to be universal in nature. Preferably, such auxiliary lenses should be capable of being pivoted out of alignment with the lenses of the regular eyeglasses. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides other related advantages.